Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has called on the nation’s organised private sector (OPS) to digitise their operations and commit to a training budget line for Artificial Intelligence (AI) upskilling for their staff members, to enable them to stay digitally relevant.
The Chamber’s President, Engineer Leye Kupoluyi, gave the charge at the Chamber’s Members Day 2026 tagged: “Innovation at Work: Navigating the AI Economy Together,” held in Lagos.
The LCCI boss stated that Nigeria’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, published in 2025, commits to equipping 70% of young Nigerians aged 16–35, including 50% of women, with AI-relevant skills by 2029, and cutting unemployment by 5 percentage points.
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He therefore believed the primary concern of the organised private sector should be how to leverage such a program to enhance its fortunes.
Kupoluyi, however, advised that such targets cannot be met by training programmes alone, but with employers ready to hire digitally-savvy professionals to drive their operations.
The LCCI boss, therefore, called on companies to have an internal AI-readiness audit, and be ready to participate actively in the talent pipelines that the government had set up to digitally drive their operations.
“Nigeria did not wait for permission to adopt AI as consumers; this Chamber should not wait for permission to deploy it as an economy. Let us navigate this together.
“To all our members: take innovation seriously. Rethink your business model. Digitize your operations. Diversify your markets. Collaborate.
“The Chamber is endowed with legacy projects and programmes designed to serve your businesses. We have the innovation hub, we host the Lagos International Trade Fair, we advocate critical business environment issues on your behalf, we represent your interests in engagements with the government (federal and state levels), and offer several capacity-building conferences, webinars, symposiums, and workshops.
“Let us, as LCCI members, commit to embedding innovation and resilience into the DNA of our enterprises. Let us build businesses that withstand adversity and redefine what’s possible.
“Let us not rely on yesterday’s tools for today’s challenges. Let us lead with clarity, courage, creativity, and community,” he stated.
Commending the leadership of the Chamber for strengthening private sector competitiveness, Commissioner, Lagos State Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, Mr. Olatunbosun Alake, described the event’s theme as timely and relevant, since the nation presently stands at the threshold of a new economic era, powered by data, intelligence, innovation, and digital technologies.
The Commissioner, who was represented by the Head, eGovernance, Project and Change Management Unit, at the Ministry, Lateef Alani, described Artificial Intelligence as the most disruptive and consequential technology of the generation.
“AI is no longer a futuristic concept, confined to research laboratories or science fiction.
“It is already transforming how governments govern, how businesses operate, how citizens interact with services, and how societies solve complex challenges,” he added.
Alake added that since the AI economy has been projected to contribute trillions of dollars to global GDP in the coming decade, the organised private sector should begin to position itself to enable it to benefit from that transformation.
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